Within the context of the game, I probably agree with tec. You swing or you don't. And contact takes over. In the real world, you can take bad swings and that is the by-product of being fooled. And you're easier fooled when your eyes see something and your brain processes it slower. And that happens with aging.

However, you're still retarded for not accepting that BR should decline in HBD. It is the decision to run. If you run more often as you age, you get thrown out more often. If you don't run when you could have made it, you are processing what you see slower. And that happens with aging.

You're my age. I assume you hang with people our age. It obviously doesn't apply to everyone but you know that some older people are not as quick-witted. If you don't, it's probably because you're the slow-witted one in the group.

Mike says throw them on the ice floe, they've gone stupid.
The Native people would have jacked them up from 80 to 100 because they are wise, then -4 for speed when the coyote takes them down and eats them.

But until then, they were reverered for their wisdom. Base Running....it just gets better.

I'm going to look at it from a programming standpoint. If you left the skills ratings exactly the same as they are, then diminished only the physical ratings, I'm guessing you'd end up with older players being just a little too good at doing the things they're good at. A guy with 98 baserunning and, say, 30 speed, might still be capable of stealing 30 or so. JUST A GUESS. You'd have certain players playing well into their 40s.

So in that case, you make the skills ratings decline "artificially" too, and then you get a 38 year old who's properly gone to pot.

Posted by MikeT23 on 9/18/2013 2:16:00 PM (view original):You're my age. I assume you hang with people our age. It obviously doesn't apply to everyone but you know that some older people are not as quick-witted. If you don't, it's probably because you're the slow-witted one in the group.

I certainly believe I'm much wiser and level-headed today than I was 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, etc. Most people who know me personally would probably agree.

You seem to think that I should be dumber. Are you projecting your own personal experiences upon the rest of our demographic?

Posted by MikeT23 on 9/18/2013 2:16:00 PM (view original):You're my age. I assume you hang with people our age. It obviously doesn't apply to everyone but you know that some older people are not as quick-witted. If you don't, it's probably because you're the slow-witted one in the group.

I certainly believe I'm much wiser and level-headed today than I was 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, etc. Most people who know me personally would probably agree.

You seem to think that I should be dumber. Are you projecting your own personal experiences upon the rest of our demographic?

No. I'm saying if someone says "23x12, what's the answer?", you'll take longer to give the answer, still correct, than you would have when you were 30.

Posted by MikeT23 on 9/18/2013 3:11:00 PM (view original):I don't know if we want to send them off to a freezing death but don't hand them the bow/arrow when the bear is charging either.

Again, physical skill versus mental skill.

40 year olds typically are not as fast, strong, quick, etc. as they were as 30 year olds.

40 years olds typically are not dumber than they were as 30 year olds. In fact, I'd argue the opposite is true. With age and experience comes wisdom.

Until dementia sets in, of course.

Again, I think you're failing to get the point(thus proving how right I am).

It will take a perfect shot, timed perfectly, to take down a bear with a bow and arrow. Grandpa Tonto can still shoot an accurate arrow but maybe his timing is a little off. Simply because his brain isn't processing the visual info quite as quickly as it used to.

This is not all completely linear in real life. I am thinking about the well documented early decline of the three true outcome power hitter. Many or all of these guys traditionally fall off the cliff in their early 30s, earlier than more well-rounded hitters do.

In the early 30s, there is documented medical evidence that a guy's mental skills are still improving. But his physical skills go in the tank rapidly. Mo Vaughn, Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, maybe even Albert Pujols now.

If you programmed mental skills to decline very little, as the OP suggested, then to mirror real life you'd be looking at starting physical decline earlier and making it more pronounced. Your 40 HR hitter would be down to 20 by age 32. But then, as death has suggested elsewhere, this game doesn't have a realistic number of injuries in it, either.